


Blood & Vice

by dovekook (hvanwoong)



Category: ONEUS (Band)
Genre: Blood Drinking, Explicit Consent, Human Dongju, M/M, Roommates, Vampire Hwanwoong, Vampires, surprisingly soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:01:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23576608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hvanwoong/pseuds/dovekook
Summary: Inviting a chirpy human student to become his new housemate may have been a very bad idea for vampire Hwanwoong, who gave up on blood and vice a century ago.Or it may have been the best decision he’s ever made.
Relationships: Son Dongju | Xion/Yeo Hwanwoong
Comments: 30
Kudos: 221





	1. Blood.

'So if you _did_ drink human blood…'

Hwanwoong looks up with a sigh, torn begrudgingly from his novel. It’s a Russian piece, one that he’s finally giving the attention it deserves, written at a time when he was living in Vienna and far too busy enjoying music and wine to think too much about literature. He closes the book, cloth-bound and dusty, and turns his eyes to Dongju, who is curled up on the opposite couch. That couch is one of Hwanwoong’s favourites, a dark purple velvet with silver trim, and Dongju _always_ sits with his bare feet up on the cushion.

'… would you be driven totally crazy with the lust for it? Since it’s been so long?'

'I’m not going to drink your blood, Dongju,' he directs in a warning tone, but his roommate is smirking, and it’s that smirk which makes him want to tear Dongju’s clothes and his jugular in one smooth motion. In the loving kind of way, that is. Hwanwoong wouldn’t trade his roommate for any other.

They’ve been living together in this sprawling old mansion for six months, since Hwanwoong first threw caution to wind and posted his ad online in search of a housemate. It’s not that he needed the money, but rather the _company_. It’s a lonely life when everyone that you’ve ever known dies in a fraction of your lifespan.

For some reason, despite the low rent for the room, it took Hwanwoong a long time to find a housemate. The first few people that visited didn’t even make it up the driveway, and the two that did both made quick exits after seeing the entrance hall. Dongju, on the other hand, loved it. He announced that Hwanwoong’s interior design was ' _so kitschy'_ with a beaming smile, before asking to see his room. It took him only around two months to figure out Hwanwoong’s true identity, but then again Dongju’s a student; he’s used to avoiding sunlight and never eating proper meals.

'Aren’t you supposed to be studying?' asks Hwanwoong, eager to change the subject.

Dongju sighs theatrically. 'But it’s _boring_. Can’t you write my essay for me? You were alive back then, right?'

Hwanwoong puts his book down on the small table beside him, knowing full well that his peace is over. Maybe the reason that Dongju likes him so much is that he’s a history major, and Hwanwoong is sort-of-living, unbreathing history. 'Yes, I was. And no, I won’t write your essay for you. I did my time, matriculated enough times to last me an eternity.'

Dongju huffs and looks back at his laptop. While he’s distracted, Hwanwoong watches him, up through long lashes because he doesn’t want to be caught staring.

Dongju is perfect, and it frustrates him because it reminds Hwanwoong of all that it was, all that it _is,_ to be human, alive. When Dongju laughs, his cheeks turn pink, and when he lies his neck and ears flush red with blood. When he’s flustered, he gets hot, and Hwanwoong can feel the heat from his skin across the room. When he sleeps, his face turns soft and Hwanwoong watches the way his eyes flicker with the excitement of his dreams. _Dreams_.

If he closes his eyes and thinks back to many lifetimes ago, he can remember how it felt to dream. It feels like someone else’s memory. Now he only has his waking thoughts to keep him company. He hasn’t slept for a few hundred years.

'You didn’t answer my question, earlier,' Dongju presses. 'Since it’s been _so_ long since you drank human blood - '

'I don’t want to talk about it,' he says, quite honestly. It’s been nearly a century since he last took the blood of a living human. He gave up on that lifestyle, back when a kind stranger showed him that humans deserve _better_. That stranger showed him that there was another path, one that wasn’t just blood and vice. 'I don’t like to harm your kind. I can survive perfectly well on the blood of animals, and my blood bags.'

'But it makes you sick - '

'Dongju, _please - '_

'Why won’t you ever let us have this conversation?' whines Dongju, and Hwanwoong is silenced by the sincerity in his voice.

The boy isn’t wrong. He is sick. The blood that he survives off is enough to live on, but it’s fair to say that he’s malnourished. He’s thin, even for his kind, and his skin is waxy. Fatigue weighs heavy on his limbs and it’s difficult for him to tolerate the sunlight even for short bursts now. There’s a constant migraine threatening his left eye and sometimes his hands shake when he reaches for a book or a glass. But he’s lived this way for so long that it’s become his own normal.

'You’re sick and I have all this blood! More than I need. I’ve been researching it and humans can - '

'Don’t tell me how much blood you can lose before you faint, Dongju. I’d never hurt you like that.'

'But it wouldn’t _be_ hurting me! Apparently it can be very fun for the human.'

Hwanwoong looks down at his hands, stretches his thin fingers. They’ve edged towards this conversation before, but they’ve never got this far. He can’t tell whether Dongju is one of those humans who’s turned on by the thought of a vampire getting their fangs into him. Hwanwoong’s met enough of those people in his time, and he knows that appeasing them is doing harm in the long run, because those humans always end up seeking more and more extreme gratification until they fall in with the wrong crowd and someone puts them in the ground. Dongju though…

He’s never been one of _those_ humans. He’s never looked at Hwanwoong with reverence or worship. He’s always just treated him like… well… like his _roommate._

'I’d trust you,' whispers Dongju, and Hwanwoong closes his eyes for a moment. He’s a predator by design, and those words from Dongju, they _awaken_ something in him. 'I _know_ you wouldn’t hurt me.'

Hwanwoong stands up, aware of the stirring in his own navel, and shakes his head. 'Just because you trust me… that doesn’t mean I can trust myself.'

'What, are you worried that you _would_ be driven crazy by it all? That you’d drain me ‘til I flopped?'

Hwanwoong finds himself exasperated at the way Dongju is smiling, but he sobers his own expression. 'No, I’m worried that if I did it once, I’d want to do it again, again, _again_. And you’re not going to become my blood-bank.'

'What if we only did it for a special treat? Every once in a while?'

Hwanwoong crosses the room, on the way to retire to his quarters because that feels like the only way out of this conversation. As he passes Dongju, he rests a hand down on his shoulder and squeezes gently. Dongju is so warm that Hwanwoong lingers there, but then he draws away his fingers and curls them into a fist at his side. 'You’re sweet to me, little fawn,' he says.

Dongju’s cheeks turn pink and Hwanwoong has to turn away because that’ll be all it takes to break him.

'I’m going to write my journals,' he says, which is as close as he gets to sleep.

'Don’t think I don’t know you’re running away!' Dongju calls after him petulantly.

'Never forget that you’re the one who’s supposed to run away from _me_ , Dongju,' he reminds him. 'That’s the natural course.'

'Oh please,' Dongju rolls his eyes, 'I know you iron your robes and you can’t work a rice cooker. You’re hardly intimidating.'

'I bought that cooker for _you_ ,' he snaps, but it’s in that affectionate kind of way. He straightens his neat black robe, silken and embroidered with bright white dragons. 'Get your essay done. And don’t stay up too late.'

Dongju makes a miming gesture with his hand and then waves him away.

Hwanwoong stands up taller. He’s not the most threatening vampire in the world in terms of his appearance; smaller than average, hair ashy from where the life has faded, eyes dulled by a lack of good nutrition, but he still has a _presence_. And he can make it felt when he needs to.

'It’s not gonna work,' says Dongju casually, without looking in his direction.

'Maybe I _will_ drain you until you flop,' Hwanwoong mutters, before stalking away.

☾

Hwanwoong is listening to music when the coughing starts. It’s classical music, or rather the music of his time, played on an old bronze gramophone that has travelled the world with him. His bedroom is overlarge for a man who does not sleep, with a grand four-poster bed that he lays in sometimes to drift into daydreams. Across each wall there are closets and chests, filled with the belongings of centuries.

He clears his throat, a dizzy sensation over his head, and sits back in his desk chair. He has these episodes every once in a while, and they’re usually solved by the blood-bags he keeps in the freezer downstairs, but tonight his limbs feel too heavy to lift and he closes his eyes. A hacking cough catches him by surprise, and he closes his journal quickly on his desk with a snap, afraid that he’ll get his blood on it.

With a nervous glance at the door, he stifles the next cough. Dongju’s room is just down the hall and he should be asleep by now.

Hand shaking, he picks up a lace handkerchief and holds it to his lips. He doesn’t like the sight of his own blood, so he doesn’t look when he coughs again, choking up fluid. His blood is stale, dark, and dead.

'Hyung?'

He snaps his eyes back to the door again and curses when he sees Dongju framed there. 'Go away, Dongju,' he says, harsher than he intended, but he needs to cough again and he doesn’t wish to appear vulnerable in front of one of the very few people that he cares about.

'You need to feed.' It’s not a question.

'I’m quite alright.'

'You don’t have to lie to me!'

'Then get me a blood bag from the freezer,' he says roughly, pushing his hair back from his forehead. He feels hot and sweaty, but he knows it’s a phantom sensation, a memory from long-gone human days.

'That stuff won’t do any good for you,' says Dongju.

Hwanwoong can hear his heartbeat from across the room. That’s the thing with humans. They don’t realise how loud they are, how strong their scent is, how intoxicating their very presence can be. Especially when a vampire is in a state like this. 'Please, Dongie, I can hear your pulse…'

'Natural course, right?' exhales Dongju, and Hwanwoong feels that barrier break.

_Dongju._

_Dongju’s blood._

'You really want this?'

Dongju nods. 'I want it for you, hyung, _and_ for me.'

The thud of Dongju’s heartbeat in Hwanwoong’s ears is so loud that he could almost trick himself into thinking that it’s his own. He bites his lip, hard enough to draw his blood, and looks Dongju up and down. He’s innocent in his humanity, leant against the frame in sweats and a white tee, and it’s as if he’s from a whole different world to Hwanwoong. He beckons Dongju over with a loose hand, and Dongju follows like he’s mesmerised.

'Wait,' says Dongju, and he puts a hand on Hwanwoong’s chest only once the space is closed between them. 'Do _you_ want this? You’re not doing it because I’ve… bullied you into it?'

Hwanwoong wants to laugh but his skin is on fire, the blood of his desired too close to ignore now. 'I’ve wanted your blood from the day that I met you, Dongju. But swear to me one thing? You won’t let me drink from you again for at least a month? If I do, then we must go our separate ways forever. It would not be safe for us.'

'Pinky promise,' says Dongju solemnly, and he holds up his finger.

'You’re so human,' replies Hwanwoong. He lifts his hand and strokes his fingertips down Dongju’s face.

'Close your eyes,' says Dongju. 'I’ll make you feel human too.'

He isn’t sure what makes him do it, but Hwanwoong obeys. His eyes fall shut and he sinks into the vivid sensations of the room without sight. The scent of Dongju’s blood is stronger, the sound of his breathing too close to him. Then he feels Dongju’s fingers on his shirt and he’s pulling him forward and then Dongju’s lips are against his. It goes hand-in-hand with blood-drinking, the most intimate thing that a vampire can share, but Hwanwoong’s taken by surprise nonetheless.

His dulled heart, numb in his chest for so long, spikes. Blood kicks back into action in his veins. Dongju cups his cold face in his hands and Hwanwoong knows in an instant that he has to have him. He runs his fingers over Dongju’s throat and kisses him back, parting their lips and finding the short hair at the nape of his neck to knot his fingers in. 'You didn’t say this was part of the deal,' says Hwanwoong through tight teeth when they break apart because he remembers, begrudgingly, that Dongju has to breathe.

Dongju shrugs. 'I thought it was implied.'

'I’ve wanted to kiss you for as long as I’ve wanted to drink from you.'

'Barely the blink of an eye, for someone like you.'

Hwanwoong shakes his head. 'It feels like a lifetime.'

A lifetime, for Hwanwoong, is a very long time. He takes Dongju’s hand and interlinks their fingers, holding it up to his lips to feel the warmth of his palm before kissing a gentle line down to his wrist. The pulse is so strong there, but he wants _more_ , and when he looks up Dongju tilts his head to the side so _willingly_ , inviting him to his throat.

Hwanwoong takes a breath that he doesn’t need, because some old habits never die, and then he tears open the neck of Dongju’s shirt with one fluid movement. The rise and fall of Dongju’s chest, breathing heavy, might be erotic for anyone else, but Hwanwoong’s eyes are diverted only one way.

He fixates on Dongju’s throat, bare and exposed just for him.

'You know this means breaking the habit of practically a lifetime?' he breathes, as he leans close against Dongju’s neck. The thud of his pulse is visible, and the carefully cultivated control that Hwanwoong has spent enough decades working on is unravelled like a ribbon in the wind. He lets his nose brush the skin, inhaling the scent of fresh human blood and the way that Dongju’s smells so much like _him_ , sweet and spicy and like an autumn night around the bonfire.

'Not true,' sighs Dongju. 'You haven’t been alive for a very long time.'

At that, Hwanwoong looks up with an almost withering glare. It’s the sort of remark that Dongju makes at him all the time. _Oh to be 20 again_ … 'Very funny,' he says.

'Bite me,' shrugs Dongju.

Hwanwoong tugs Dongju’s head back with a rough grip on his hair and he watches the way that the boy smiles, his pulse quickening. He wishes that he could taste even an ounce of fear on the air, because it would mean that he’d have an excuse not to do this. But Dongju wants it. That’s all he can taste. Desire is hot and heavy in the air and Hwanwoong can smell the sweat of it.

For a moment, though, he stills.

This isn’t some stranger, someone whose throat he might have ripped out two centuries ago. This is _Dongju_. His housemate. Precious Dongju who has an essay due this week and plays on his Nintendo Switch every night in the library. 'I won’t hurt you,' he whispers, and his voice is soft. 'My saliva - '

'Ew, _gross_!' interrupts Dongju.

'You’re too much,' mutters Hwanwoong. He brushes his lips over Dongju’s throat and swallows. 'Why aren’t you nervous? Even a little?'

'Because I trust you,' Dongju says again.

Hwanwoong kisses his pulse, and then opens his strong jaw to tap the tips of his long canines against Dongju’s skin. At last, he feels the race of anticipation and he smiles before pressing another kiss there and drawing back. 'You don’t seriously think I’m going to go for the jugular, do you?'

Dongju exhales, and his breathing is suddenly coming very fast. 'Don’t you want to?'

'I don’t want to put you in the hospital, sweetheart,' Hwanwoong sighs as he pushes Dongju’s soft hair back from his face. 'And besides, the jugular is a lot deeper than people think. I’d have to do some damage to get at it. And I’m not putting a scar on you.'

'Aw,' Dongju pouts, 'but that would be so sexy!'

At last, Hwanwoong gives in to what Dongju is getting at, and his lips twitch to another smile. 'You know, if all this is about you wanting me to fuck you so much, then we can always skip the blood part and get straight to that.'

Dongju turns scarlet. 'It’s _not_ just about that!'

'Just?' he grins.

'Not that I haven’t thought about that too.'

'Close your eyes,' says Hwanwoong, mirroring Dongju’s own words from earlier, and when he obeys, Hwanwoong finds anxious butterflies flutter in his abdomen. It’s been so long. He’s almost forgotten what it tastes like.

Except he hasn’t.

Where he’s torn Dongju’s shirt, he pulls the neck further aside and down over his shoulder to expose his delicate collarbone. A bite there, it won’t do any damage… There’s nothing but capillaries and the healing powers in his own body will transfer to Dongju the moment that he runs his tongue over the wound. There’s no need, no need right now to starve himself anymore. Dongju wants this, maybe even more than him. He thinks of how it would feel to be strong enough to walk in the sunlight again; maybe to walk with Dongju.

'Ah!' Dongju gasps but it’s a soft sound, when Hwanwoong plunges his teeth into the fleshy part about his shoulder. The pain will only last a second, but Hwanwoong wraps his arm around him, pulls him close to him with a squeeze of reassurance nonetheless. _I’m here. It’s me. You can trust me_ , the motion says.

The explosion of sensation in Hwanwoong’s mouth is like flavour to a man who has never tasted, or water to a man who has never drank. It’s not so much a taste as an experience, and he feels like his head is knocked back, but in reality he leans even closer, lifts one hand to the back of Dongju’s neck to hold him in place. The salty notes are familiar, like it’s barely been a day since he last fed, but there’s a sweetness there too; perhaps it is because it’s Dongju. He’s never drank from someone who he’s liked before.

Metallic stain soaks his tongue and he lets it still there before he swallows. It burns his throat like whiskey. There’s a reason why he likes to drink alcohol – it’s the closest that he can find to a replacement for _this_. At least it’s intoxicating.

Dongju turns slack in his hold, but it’s in the pliant kind of way rather than the loss of grasp on consciousness. He moans, fingers closing on the front of Hwanwoong’s robe for purchase. 'Fuck… hyung…' he gasps out weakly.

Hwanwoong knows what this experience is like for a human. He knows that when his fangs are in him, the boy is his, under his spell. He can feel Dongju hard against his thigh, and he reminds himself that he needs to stop. _Stop._ Dongju grinds against him and Hwanwoong squeezes his eyes shut. If he can just live in this moment for a second longer…

'Enough,' he gasps as he pulls away, but he can’t get far enough from Dongju’s blood because he has to keep his arms around him to hold him steady. The back of Dongju’s neck is sweaty and clammy, and his legs have turned to jelly. It’s not difficult for Hwanwoong to hold him up, far stronger than any human, but it’s difficult for him to be so close to the wound without drinking again.

'Need you…' Dongju moans, and his fingers fumble weak on Hwanwoong’s clothes.

'Not now,' says Hwanwoong. He feels drunk, but he’s more sober of mind than Dongju right now and that makes the boy _his_ responsibility. 'Not now my fawn,' he says, trying to keep softness in his tense voice, and his eyes travel down to the punctures in Dongju’s skin. The wound needs closing.

 _Control. It’s all about control. If you control yourself then one day you can drink again_ , he tells himself.

He lowers his face to the blood and Dongju lets out a groan of excitement but Hwanwoong just traces his tongue over the wound, watching the way the skin knits over like spilled wine spreading on a table. He takes in the last droplets and feels energy in his veins like he hasn’t felt for a long time.

'Please… need you Hwanwoong…' Dongju’s hands are all over him but Hwanwoong prises them away as he half walks, half carries him to the bed that’s never been slept in.

'No, what you need is rest,' he murmurs. His level head stays on. He’d been afraid that the blood would drive him crazy but if anything, it is starting to bring clarity to a mind that has been clouded for too long. 'You’re not thinking straight right now.'

'But you promised–'

'I promised you nothing,' says Hwanwoong, and he lays Dongju down on the sheets.

In an instant, the human reaches out for him, tries to pull him with him down onto the bed. 'Please. _Please_ , hyung.'

If Hwanwoong’s heart could beat, then it would be clawing its way out of his chest right now.

'Don’t leave me alone.'

They aren’t the words that Hwanwoong was expecting. He sits down on the edge of the bed and strokes his skin gently. 'Okay,' he says, because that’s one thing he cannot possibly deny Dongju. 'How do you feel?' he whispers, as he arranges in the sheets and pushes Dongju beneath them.

'Dizzy…' exhales Dongju, and Hwanwoong smiles because the tiredness will soon overtake the seduction. 'Hot.'

Hwanwoong nods and collects a few of the strands of hair that have stuck to Dongju’s forehead with sweat, and moves them away. 'You’ll turn cold soon, once your body catches up with your mind.'

'How do _you_ feel?' whispers Dongju, like that’s much more important.

'Like you put life back in me,' he answers, because that’s exactly what Dongju has done. His headache is already fading, and his skin has more colour to it that usual. Or maybe it’s just the light.

There’s a silence. Because Dongju is reaching out for him with needy hands, Hwanwoong sighs and climbs under the bedcovers too. He collects Dongju in his arms and presses a soft kiss to the crown of his head.

'How much did you take?'

'Very little,' he assures him. 'You’ll just be sleepy for a while.'

Dongju snuggles up closer, but it’s not as difficult for Hwanwoong as before. The smell of his blood is less all-consuming now that his thirst is satiated. 'I have my essay to write…'

Hwanwoong thumps his head back against the headboard and looks up at the velvet canopy with a sigh. 'Alright, alright. I will write your essay for you. Just this once. And only to say thank you.'

Dongju beams and the lust has faded from his eyes, replaced by a small glint of excitement but more so the droop of tiredness. They flutter shut and he rests his cheek against Hwanwoong’s chest. 'It’s weird, hearing no heartbeat,' he says, voice quiet and distant.

'Do you… not like it?' says Hwanwoong, and he wishes that he didn’t sound self-conscious.

Dongju yawns. 'It’s fine.'

A small smile finds its way back to Hwanwoong’s lips. He runs his fingers comfortingly through Dongju’s hair and then grazes them over the neatly closed wound at his shoulder. 'Good.'

'I’ll get used to it, if you’re going to be my vampire boyfriend,' shrugs Dongju, and his eyes are closed so there’s no use in Hwanwoong glaring at him.

'You’re delirious,' he scoffs, instead.

'We’ll see,' yawns Dongju, and he shunts himself further into Hwanwoong’s hold. 'You feel warmer than usual.'

'I know,' he says, because he feels it too. It’s the first time in a very long time that he’s felt _alive_.


	2. Vice.

'So if you wanted to turn someone into a vampire, how…'

Hwanwoong’s eyes fall shut, like the darkness behind his lids is somewhere he can disappear to instead of answering Dongju’s questions for the thousandth time. Ever since _that_ night, Dongju seems to have taken his invitation into Hwanwoong’s bedroom to be an open one, and is sprawled back on his bed while he plays one of his video games. 'I’m not going to turn you into a vampire, Dongju.'

Dongju rolls his eyes but doesn’t look his way. 'I wasn’t asking you to. I’m just curious.'

The hour is late, but the curtains are still open because Hwanwoong has grown to enjoy the feeling of the morning rays on his skin, and there is no one close enough to overlook them during the night anyway. He resumes his sketch by the lamplight. Drawing is a skill that he’s determined to perfect at some point during a very long lifetime. And he has the perfect subject sitting in his room. 'First, I would drink your blood. Then, you would drink mine. And then I would kill you.'

'Woah!'

Hwanwoong shrugs. 'You’d wake up, don’t worry.'

'I’m more worried about the drinking your blood part. That sounds horrid.'

He raises his eyebrows and turns to Dongju. 'Funny that you didn’t have that attitude when I was the one drinking _your_ blood.'

'Well you like the stuff.'

Hwanwoong lowers his pencils and watches Dongju for a while as he rolls onto his front and brushes his bangs from his eyes over and over because he grows them a little too long to be practical. His usually wide eyes narrow on the game, and Hwanwoong is sure that he’ll strain them prematurely with how much time he spends staring at screens.

'Who turned you into a vampire?' Dongju asks absentmindedly.

Hwanwoong ignores that question.

Dongju seems to take his silence to mean that the answer must be juicy. 'Was it an ex-boyfriend?'

'No.'

Dongju puts his game down and rolls onto his back. 'Oh _please_ tell me, hyung!'

Hwanwoong fiddles with his cuffs. He’s dressed very well, as he has been since the day he fed on Dongju’s blood. That night brought vitality back into death and for the first time in a long time, he feels the strength to get dressed properly every morning, to even style his hair. Tonight he wears a white blouse that Dongju says is out of fashion, but the fleeting fashions of humans are not all that important to immortals. 'There are some memories, Dongju, that I wish to keep to myself.'

To Dongju’s credit, he doesn’t push any further. 'Okay.'

Unable to fight the urge to get closer to him any longer, Hwanwoong stands and crosses to the bed. Since that night, he’s been unable to resist contact. He went too long without it. 'You’re so full of questions,' he says, and he takes Dongju’s hand to his lips and kisses his palm.

'Well I want to learn all about you.'

'I understand. I’m very interesting.'

Dongju swats at his back, but to Hwanwoong’s strong form it has all the force of a baby animal.

'You’re interesting too,' says Hwanwoong, like that’ll make him feel more gratified. He sits down on the bed and continues to kiss a line up Dongju’s arm, to the fragile crook of his elbow and then to his shoulder. He pushes aside his tank and brushes his lips over the fine silvery scar at his shoulder, almost healed. The memory of Dongju’s blood on his tongue is raw in the forefront of his mind. 'I have questions for you too.'

'What kind of questions?' whispers Dongju, and it’s obvious that the air in the room has changed.

'Questions about how it feels to be human,' he murmurs. 'I’ve forgotten.'

He hears Dongju swallow and his eyes turn to his throat, the ever-present pulse, the scent of his now familiar blood. 'Right now?'

Hwanwoong smiles and strokes his fingertips over his neck. He feels Dongju tremble automatically beneath him, the way humans do when you get too intimate with them. 'We can start with that.'

Dongju swallows again and this time Hwanwoong feels it against his fingers. 'Being human, it feels… hot…' exhales Dongju. 'I’ve never even seen you sweat.'

Hwanwoong kisses the soft part of his jaw where it meets his neck.

'It feels… sensitive. Especially when you’re around. Like I’m aware of every little movement.'

'Mm?' Hwanwoong hums against his skin.

'Being human feels… vulnerable.'

He pulls back, raising his eyebrows. 'Vulnerable?'

'Well, you know,' Dongju turns pink, 'you’re like indestructible. I guess you’ve forgotten what it’s like to feel breakable.'

'I didn’t think you were the sort of person to worry about that kind of thing,' says Hwanwoong curiously. 'I’ve always had you down as a bit of an adrenaline junkie.'

'I didn’t say it worries me.'

'Oh,' Hwanwoong’s lips curve up and he pushes his fingers through the hair over Dongju’s ear. 'You _like_ that?'

Dongju pulls away and flops back on the bed. He lets out a groan. ' _Embarrassing_!'

Hwanwoong just laughs and rests his hand down on Dongju’s thigh. 'You know, if you want us to do this, then you can tell me what you like?'

'I like _you_ ,' says Dongju, as if that’s the only thing that matters.

He’s so sweetly human. 'Are you sure you want us to-' Hwanwoong hesitates; it’s been a long time since he’s done this with a human. '-to make love?'

Dongju snorts. 'You’re so old fashioned.'

At that, Hwanwoong pushes him back onto the bed. 'Well I’m very old,' he says, tilting his chin up. 'Answer the question.'

'Yes, I’m sure,' says Dongju, and his expression sobers for once. He lifts one hand to stroke down Hwanwoong’s cheek. Hwanwoong wonders how his skin must feel to human touch; cool, hard, or does the flush he feels when he’s this close to him show on his skin? He thinks not. The once-human part of his brain still plays these tricks on him sometimes. Just when he thinks that Dongju will be serious for once in his life, the boy smirks. 'You’ve already had your teeth in me, so your dick-'

'Stop talking,' groans Hwanwoong, and then he kisses him if only to put a stop to the noise. Dongju’s lips are soft, biteable but Hwanwoong isn’t here for that tonight. He leans over Dongju, hands either side of his shoulders, and parts their lips together, letting his tongue stroke over his lower lip. It strikes him that Dongju is so vulnerable beneath him on the bed, _defenceless_ , the way a human should never allow himself to be trapped by a vampire, but he’s also hot with excitement that Hwanwoong can taste on the air and he thinks, then, that Dongju is quite an enigma.

'Can I ask you something?' he asks when they break apart.

'Always with the _questions_ ,' sighs Hwanwoong as he tugs at Dongju’s shirt to pull it over his head, unwilling to let the interruption slow them down.

'Did the vampire thing make you more beautiful, or did you always look like this?'

Hwanwoong stops. He looks down at him with a frown. Dongju’s staring up at him, eyes wide and he looks more of a fawn than ever. Hwanwoong isn’t sure quite how to respond to that. He’s never thought of himself as beautiful. Charming? Yes. But mirrors aren’t so good at keeping a handle on vampires’ reflections and he doesn’t recall being the most desirable human in his village. 'You think I’m beautiful?' he asks, and it’s a human sort of thing to say but it slips out. Insecurity, he supposes, can last a very long lifetime.

Dongju runs a hand through Hwanwoong’s hair. 'It’s the first thing I noticed about you.'

Caught off guard, Hwanwoong has to look further down Dongju’s body for a moment before he can look back up and meet his eyes again. 'I think maybe it helped. But I don’t remember what I looked like before.'

'If I ever become a vampire, maybe I’ll become even better looking,' muses Dongju.

Hwanwoong rolls his eyes and gets back to work on pulling Dongju’s shirt off, then his own. Dongju’s body is slender, delicate, and Hwanwoong knows that he favours his games over the gym. He runs his fingertips down Dongju’s chest and smiles at the way he shivers under his touch, even though the room is warm.

Hwanwoong keeps the thermostat high for Dongju’s benefit.

'Dongju?'

'Yeah?'

'Please, please be quiet.'

Dongju bites his lip, then gives him a delectable smile and Hwanwoong thinks that this boy might finally be the death of him. Then, he props himself up on his elbows and he kisses Hwanwoong, not on his lips but on every part of him that he can find space. He grazes his lips over his sharp jaw, over his throat, then sits up so that he can kiss a line down his chest and Hwanwoong lets his eyes fall closed. It’s been so long since he’s been touched like this.

To his credit, Dongju stops talking.

He pulls Hwanwoong close to him and pushes his shirt down the rest of the way past his elbows before it falls loose on the bed, and runs his nails down the bare skin of his back. Hwanwoong knots both fingers in Dongju’s hair to keep his lips at his chest as he rolls his head back, the dig of Dongju’s nails into his skin a sweet sensation. A buzz of electricity flutters in his navel when Dongju runs his tongue over his nipple and Hwanwoong is so aware that it’s been so _difficult_ just to _feel_ anything for so long. Dongju makes him feel things.

'Dongju,' he murmurs, trying to keep his voice soft, but it’s hard when his cock is starting to ache and his body is relearning sensations that it had forgotten for so long. 'Baby-'

Dongju laughs against his skin. 'You suck my blood once and you think you get to call me baby?'

'You don’t like it?' Hwanwoong looks down in concern, but then he sees Dongju is grinning.

'I didn’t say that.'

Hwanwoong pushes him back properly this time and pins him down to the bed with a shake of his head. 'One day I’ll drain you.'

'Promise?'

Hwanwoong ignores him and instead concentrates on getting rid of the rest of his clothes. He pulls loose Dongju’s sweatpants and sits back on his bare thighs, running his hands down Dongju’s chest and _his_ nails leave red marks. Dongju is hard already, cock curved up and perfect as the rest of him, and leaking pretty. Hwanwoong licks his lips, mouth dry, and then swallows down some nervous energy. He can’t remember the last time he saw a human this vulnerable before him.

'Woong?'

'Do _not_ call me that.'

' _Hyung_ ,' Dongju corrects, 'how does this work?'

Hwanwoong sighs and takes Dongju’s cock in his hand, jerking him twice in the hopes that that would shut him up, but even that doesn’t seem to work because Dongju is looking to him for an answer. 'You’re not a virgin are you?' says Hwanwoong, thinking that there are levels of innocence that he can tolerate from Dongju, but some things would be a step too far.

'No,' Dongju rolls his eyes, and then he hisses when Hwanwoong runs a particularly rough thumb over his cockhead. 'I just mean does everything… you know… still work? With you? Vampire anatomy is _whack_.'

Hwanwoong palms over him and smiles at last when Dongju squirms. He leans down and whispers over his ear. 'I’ll show you.'

He can feel the heat radiating from Dongju’s body, and he aches with his own need at the thought of how he can make him feel. On the air, there’s a taste of arousal and he can feel the way that Dongju vibrates imperceptibly with excitement. He presses a kiss to the pulse at Dongju’s throat and then taps his thigh to tell him to turn.

He doesn’t waste time, in part because he’s almost as nervous as the human must be. It’s been a long time. And humans are fragile, he has to be careful with him. He runs his fingers down the small of Dongju’s back and then further, presses a finger to his rim and then raises his eyebrows with a smile. 'Did you prepare for this?'

'Mmhm,' Dongju hums confidently, without turning. 'What can I say? I was getting impatient. And there’s lube in my sweats.'

'You’re unbelievable,' mutters Hwanwoong, but that doesn’t stop him scrambling for it.

He presses a finger inside him, then two, and closes his eyes for another minute just to feel him. Dongju’s tight and hot and he has to withdraw his hand just to tug loose his own belt and undress because everything’s fucking _aching_. He lubes up two fingers and crooks them inside, smiling as Dongju arches his back down and lets out a sigh of breath. 'That feel good?' he checks, and Dongju hangs his head but manages a nod.

'Yeah, yeah you’re good.'

Hwanwoong admires the way that sweat starts to glisten on Dongju’s shoulder blades. Everything about him that’s human is transfixing.

'You can hurry up though,' adds Dongju.

For that, Hwanwoong sits back and leaves him with nothing at all.

'Joking, joking!' Dongju whines quickly.

Hwanwoong slicks up his cock, and the touch of his own hand for the first time tonight is enough to send shockwaves through abdomen. He moves up behind Dongju but takes the time to stroke the skin over his spine, down to the vulnerable skin at the back of his thighs. Everything about him is so perfect, not in the flawless way of his own skin, but in the human way. Little imperfections, only visible to someone you would be this intimate with.

He rubs his cock over Dongju’s entrance just to listen to him moan, and then pushes forward, one hand on his lower back to hold him steady. The stretch is slow but that’s okay because every millimetre of sensation is something that Hwanwoong thinks he’ll never forget.

'You okay?' he checks again. He’s conscious of every movement. Are his fingers too tight on Dongju’s waist? Will they leave bruises? It’s so hard to tell with someone so soft under his touch.

Dongju mumbles something in response then closes his fingers on the bedsheets. 'Yeah,' he exhales, like he knows Hwanwoong is waiting for an answer before fucking him, and Hwanwoong rocks his hips forward. The room is so quiet, disturbed only by the sound of slick skin and Dongju’s heavy breathing. When he gives an experimental thrust, Dongju’s breath is pushed out and he lets out a low moan.

Hwanwoong finds a sort of rhythm, a slow one lest he push him too far, and caresses his hips with gentle hands. Heat is a fire in his navel but he forces himself to keep controlled, until Dongju starts to beg for it.

'Please, hyung, faster,' he mumbles, and the sound goes straight to Hwanwoong’s head.

He fucks into him, and Dongju makes a high-pitched sound that Hwanwoong will memorise forever. It says he’s in the right place, and he snaps forward again, lips curving up as Dongju’s shoulders shake with the effort of keeping himself upright.

Hwanwoong feels his muscles start to knot up as his head becomes cloudy, chasing desire, and he thinks how easy it would be to take Dongju’s blood along with his body. He can taste it on his tongue just from the memory.

'Hwanwoong,' Dongju pants out his name and he’s dragged back to reality.

He swallows down need. He’d never do anything to hurt Dongju.

Thoughts on Dongju instead of himself, he frees a hand from his waist and wraps it around Dongju’s swollen cock instead. It’s wet with precome, easy to pump his hand over and the sound of whimpering is too much for him. He’s never heard Dongju like this before. He thrusts forward hard, once, twice, _three_ times more and feels the shudder in Dongju’s body when he comes, spilling over Hwanwoong’s hand with a desperate kind of sound. 'Ah – hyung! _Woong_.'

This time he doesn’t chastise him for saying it.

He chases his own high, stroking Dongju through his orgasm as he speeds his rhythm and focuses in on the clenching of Dongju’s muscles around him. It’s seconds only before he follows him, low sounds running from his throat that for once he has no control over. Dongju’s name is there. He comes deep inside him, but a part of his star dazzled brain reminds him to keep his fingers loose, and he flattens his hand on his hip so as not to bruise him.

'Fuck, hyung,' mumbles Dongju, and Hwanwoong pulls out with a heavy sigh.

Dongju’s arms are shaking, and Hwanwoong catches him before he collapses on the bed, laying him down gently instead. Dongju is breathing so rapidly that the air is filled with his scent, chest rising and falling like no amount of life is enough for him. Hwanwoong closes his eyes, because it’s harder to resist him when he can see his face too.

Hwanwoong shuffles to the side of the bed and grounds himself. He needs just a second away from him.

'Hwanwoong?'

'I’m fine,' he says, even though Dongju didn’t ask a question. He reminds himself not to breathe, not to get caught up in the need to inhale his scent.

'Hyung are you okay?' says Dongju, and the whole conversation is the wrong way round.

'I’m fine. Just have to remind myself not to drink you dry. You’re… your scent is-'

For once, Dongju doesn’t laugh. He rests a gentle hand down on Hwanwoong’s shoulder and the latter flinches. 'It’s okay,' murmurs Dongju. 'I trust you, remember?'

Hwanwoong nods, flares his nostrils and tries to picture the sweet Dongju who plays video games on his bed, instead of the one that for a moment just became entirely his. 'And I trust your judgment.'

Dongju smiles a twinkling smile. 'I wanted to ask you to bite me. Not suck my blood. Just a little one. I thought that would be hot. But then I thought it would be too hard for you.'

Hwanwoong lets out an involuntary laugh, but it breaks some of the tension in his muscles. 'Maybe next time.'

'There’s gonna be a next time?'

'Well, I have to practice my self-control somehow,' he says. A silence falls for a moment, then Hwanwoong turns to him. 'Was it okay?'

Dongju grins and leans over to press a soft kiss to his lips. 'Better than I ever imagined. Turns out vampire anatomy is fine.'

'You need to shower,' says Hwanwoong, and his eyes travel to the red marks on Dongju’s chest, but they’re superficial. They won’t even leave a mark by morning. ' _We_ need to shower.'

☾

It’s some time before Dongju finds his way back to Hwanwoong’s bed again. The human, Hwanwoong has learned, likes to spend a lot of time in the shower. He likes the hot water. He says it makes his skin tingle. That’s cute.

'Sleep with me again?' requests Dongju.

'I don’t sleep,' Hwanwoong reminds him, and he picks up a book from his desk because he’s not going to be caught off guard again, trapped in bed with a sleeping Dongju sprawled all over him, with nothing to while away the hours.

Dongju yawns and pulls him with him into the bed. ' _Lie_ with me again?'

Hwanwoong concedes to that, and opens his book to the most recent dog-ear.

'Surely I get to ask you questions first?' Dongju pouts.

Hwanwoong snaps the book shut, but he can’t help but laugh. He wraps an arm around Dongju’s shoulders and pulls him against his chest. He’s always laughing at him. Dongju makes his soul feel free. 'What do you want to know?' he says, giving in at last.

'When did you become a vampire?'

'A very, very long time ago.'

'Who turned you?'

'You already asked me that.'

'But you didn’t answer.'

Hwanwoong sighs and runs his fingertips over the cover of his book. He’ll sacrifice his privacy if it satisfies Dongju’s curiosity. There’s no reason to be so scared of the past, after all. Long-dead memories. 'The sort of vampire that I hope you’ll never meet.'

'Not like you then?'

'No, not like me. She turned me to… punish my parents. They’d organised the vampire hunts in my village. They wanted to crush the insurgence of immortals among us.'

Dongju looks up at him with wide eyes. He wrings his wrists, like he feels guilty for asking such a question. 'What – what happened next?'

'Bloodshed. Vengeance. Things that you will never have to encounter, and that you don’t need to hear about.'

'I’m sorry-' Dongju starts, but Hwanwoong shakes his head.

'I’ve had a very long time to move on, Dongju, don’t worry about me.'

Dongju clears his throat and tucks himself up closer to Hwanwoong. 'Is my blood the best you’ve ever tasted?'

'Yes,' he answers.

'Really? You’re not just saying that?'

'I’ve never drunk the blood of someone I cared about before.'

Dongju looks very smug, and for a second Hwanwoong thinks that he’s done with his questions, but then he pipes up again: 'so where did the _bat_ thing come from?'

'Fiction.'

'Sleeping in coffins?'

'So passé.'

'Hwanwoong?'

'Mm?'

'Does it annoy you a lot when I ask you all these questions?'

Hwanwoong muses on the answer. He’s not sure that he knows for sure himself. When he looks down at Dongju, though, hair wet and face red from the shower, he can hardly say _yes_. 'No. It’s sweet. You’re sweet. Little fawn.'

Dongju’s cheeks turn pink. 'Really?'

'If you want to ask me questions all night, then I will oblige.'

Dongju beams and practically crawls into Hwanwoong’s lap before resting his head back against his bare shoulder. 'Okay, so say if a vampire was stuck in a wardrobe, then-'

Hwanwoong thinks that he’ll come to regret this offer.

But then, he thought that he might regret inviting Dongju to become his housemate in the first place. And it may well have been the best decision that he ever made. Living again is an unfamiliar flavour more enchanting than blood.


End file.
